Time Sponges and Total Warfare – Reader’s Feature

A reader admits his love for portable classic Advance Wars and reveals why he dare not play it alone – and yet still dreams of a 3DS version.

Advance Wars – timeless gameplay

It’s a truism that a console is only as good as the games released on it. But is it ever the case that a console or handheld is worth buying to play just one game alone? No matter how much I enjoyed Super Mario Galaxy (1 and 2) for the Wii, it’s questionable whether I would’ve bought the console knowing that I’d play no other game. I can say with absolute certainty, though, that I would buy a Nintendo handheld if only to play one video game, that being Advance Wars.

It’s so addictive, absorbing and enduring that between the various iterations I’ve easily put in several hundred hours. Advance Wars is a time sponge, impossible to play at home because nothing would ever get done, dangerous when played on a train. My recent trip from Tokyo to Kyoto ended in fit of panic when suddenly I realised we’d arrived at my destination and I had only seconds to gather my things.

Advance Wars is one of four video games that I can categorically say would be in my top five of all time (the others being Super Mario Galaxy (1 and 2), Zelda: Ocarina Of Time and Half-Life 2). While placing it higher than any other video game outside that list, I’m with GameCentral in thinking that no iteration has ever deserved a perfect 10.

The gameplay in Dual Strike was unusually imbalanced, additions seemingly bolted on to justify the fact that there were two screens. Dark Conflict, while more balanced and with important strategic additions such as the Flare Tank, eschewed the charming cartoon-style visuals, tongue-in-cheek banter, and bright and funky soundtrack that had become a hallmark of the series. The apocalypse had come and Nell and Andy were no more. Let’s hope that in the next iteration Dark Conflict turns out to be Nell’s bad dream!

What then would Intelligent Systems need to do with the franchise to achieve that perfect 10? For one it could return to the earlier aesthetic while retaining elements from Dark Conflict such as the Flare Tank and subtler special powers strategically deployed in the field of battle through assigned units.

Innovations are tricky with gameplay that in all other respects has been so perfected. I’d like to see, though, the introduction of tank-carrying helicopters, fuel-supplying planes and boats and the ability to situate aircraft and ground units on the same square. The aircraft carrier was too vulnerable to justify the expense. Perhaps it could be given strong defensive capacities. Rather than maps with breakable walls, new units that could build defences, perhaps even roads, would add an interesting tactical element.

I was worried that after reading the reviews of Intelligent System’s Paper Mario: Sticker Star that the studio was going the way of the once beloved Rare, sliding inexorably into a permanent state of mediocrity.

After reading the review of the imminent Fire Emblem: Awakening though, my hope that Advance Wars 3DS, assuming it ever gets released, will be everything the series has the potential to be still burns brightly.

By reader Luma

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk.